Parasites again!!!

I have a 20 gallon tank that was cycled without fish. I've had fish before, but when they died I've decided to start again and use ammonia for cycling and it worked very well. I've bought 3 balloon mollies 3 days ago...they are really cute and really happy... My water parameters are 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite and 10 nitrate, ph 7.0. I usually add a little salt to the water and I maintain the water on the 80's.

So as it happened before, my fish came perfectly from the pet shop and very soon they started to have this very tiny little black spots...it looks like tiny grains of crushed black pepper...some move positions when I look in the morning it's in one place and then at night it moved a little...I can see really well since one of my mollies is completely white. Although they are very happy eating their spirulina flakes and destroying my plants...which I don't mind...I love to see them enjoying and playing all around...the white molly is scratching herself on to the rocks in the aquarium...

I had copper safe at home, so I added 1 tablespoon into the water, but as before I notice my fish stay a little nervous with it...even though by following the instructions I should have added much more product then I actually did...

I also have tablets of parasite clear in stock, but I think that it affects the biological filter if I'm not mistaken, and I don't want to test it and end up having to go over the nitrogen cycle all over again...

So, what should I do? I'm looking for something that would solve those parasite problems...it's not the first time that it happens...

Hey Jackie! Everything that I've read up until this point leads me to think that it is Black Ich or Black Spots as they call it... It's an annoying parasite...I've seen it in my fish that died, but I never imagined that having a cycled tank would still let my fish get all sorts of parasites and who knows...maybe there are some sickness coming as well... I'm frustrated with my aquarium...I don't know if I should've started this hobby again... Well, thanks for replying.

Hey Diggly, the parasites I'm talking about are external, not internal...

:animal0068:Hello. I've merged your posts since there wasn't a response between. Don't forget about your "Edit" key at the bottom of every post. Thanks! Ken

Don't give up Melfrany. The only way to be an expert at fish keeping is to screw up every once in a while. I bet there is not a single person on this site who did not make major mistakes the first time out. The way to become sucessful is to keep trying especially when it is discouraging. I ought to know. These words are coming from a gal who's fish tank was recently turned into a hand washing sink by a three year old.:-\

To get rid of the parasites, you need to get rid any snails that may be hiding in your tank (which probably came with your live plants, btw). To start, you can move the fish and filter media to a bucket of clean water.

Then add a quarter cup of bleach to the tank. Let it sit for at least a few minutes. Agitate your gravel and decor and make sure everything gets a good bleaching. Then rinse, rinse, rinse, rinse, rinse, rinse until you can't smell bleach. Then overdose with conditioner. That will kill all your snails.

*Hopefully, since you saved your filter media with your mollies, you won't have to completely restart your cycle.*

If you want to try to save your plants, you can just dip them in diluted bleach/water solution and that should kill any snails/eggs hiding on the plants. There's instructions for dipping plants somewhere....

Definitely don't give up. Those parasites could have come from any snail on any plant and you just had the bad luck of them ending up on yours. It's nothing you did wrong, but I can image how frustrating it still must be. :console:

Thanks so much for your reply! To wash everything with bleach? I can certainly do it! So the snails that might be in my aquarium are probably very small aren't they? Because I can't see it even when I'm cleaning the aquarium which is the time when I move around all the gravel...

When my aquarium was cycling, I've bought some new plants and I had an infestation of small black larvae which end up crawling out of my aquarium...it was very disgusting...Do you think those are the snails you are talking about? I thought I had got them all out...but I can see the bleach will definitely kill them all...

Also, about my filter...I'll set up my quarantine tank, and let my filter run while I'm cleaning it all, this way I don't think I'll kill the bacteria...Do you think it's a good idea?

I *think* if you take just the filter media, it will be okay. I wouldn't take the whole filter because there's a greater potential for snails to hide in there, but it's easy to check just filter media. So long as the media stays wet with the mollies, it will be fine for a few hours.

Once all the snails are bleached out and you've rinsed/decholinated well, you can move mollies and filter media back into the main tank. They really don't need to be QT'ed for long - just the hour or two it takes to bleach the tank and substrate.

You will still see the black things and they may even go to the QT, but it doesn't really matter. Without their intermediary hosts, they'll die in a couple weeks.

...Though I am saying this under the assumption that it is black ick. If it's something else, then killing all the snails/eggs may not work. But it sure sounds like the right parasite. ;:barf

Hi iloveengl! Thanks for all the help...I'll clean up my tank...it' sounds like a very good idea...although I was thinking that having bleached all the tank and decor, might kill everything else that might be inside of the tank...hopefully...since it sounds like this will sterilize the tank...